AFL is on the decline - the younger generation is just not that into you

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Jul 5, 2011
14,859
23,788
Melbourne
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Victory,Napoli,Liverpool,Penguins
With a lot of the forced rule changes over the years the game just feels manufactured its not Australian Football that I grew up playing and watching its this new manufactured game called "AFL". The lack of physicality is really telling this season players are to afraid to go in hard in case of being rubbed out. Umpires giving out pointless and soft 50m penalties for decent, arms out, encroachment, not standing etc etc.. leaving us fans all scratching our heads. On top of all that the team flooding, sideways kicks constant switching of play to kick down the line to find an uncontested mark and constant out of bounds throw ins makes for a crap spectacle. Sorry it hurts to say it but the game is just not very attractive to watch anymore. I blame the currently crop of boring coaches playing it safe with the philosophy of playing not to lose rather to win.
 
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Mar 11, 2018
10,056
17,016
AFL Club
Essendon
On this board 15 years ago soccer was poised to take over and overtake AFL sometime in 2020.

Now some A-league matches take place in front of two men and a dog.

AFl is still the greatest game there is, your interest will pick up when your team is in the finals.


Haha …I remember that time

When what’s his name stripped off his shirt after kicking the set shot goal to get into the WC

And Tim Cahill was the most famous Australian sportsman for about 3 weeks


Meanwhile…my 22 year old footy fanatic son is flying to melbourne in two weeks from Perth to visit his grandfather and is slotting in 3 games at the G and marvel to watch AFL ..and none of the games are Essendon!

He just wants to watch elite footy live in the home of footy.

Also …he loves soccer ..EPL , champions league etc

But footy is his true love.

My job as a father and promoter of the greatest game is a success 👌
 
Mar 11, 2018
10,056
17,016
AFL Club
Essendon
With a lot of the forced rule changes over the years the game just feels manufactured its not Australia Football that I grew up playing and watching its this new manufactured game called "AFL". The lack of physicality is really telling this season players are to afraid to go in hard in case of being rubbed out. Pointless and soft 50m penalties leaves us all scratching our heads. On top of all that the team flooding, sideways kicks constant switching of play to kick down the line to find an uncontested mark and constant out of bounds throw ins makes for a crap spectacle. Sorry it hurts to say it but the game is just not very attractive to watch anymore. I blame the currently crop of boring coaches playing it safe with the philosophy of playing not to lose rather to win.

Well you’re obviously still watching it.

If you hate it so much, go watch F1 with all the other nerds.
 
Jul 5, 2011
14,859
23,788
Melbourne
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Victory,Napoli,Liverpool,Penguins
Well you’re obviously still watching it.

If you hate it so much, go watch F1 with all the other nerds.

yeah I'm still watching (not as much as I use to admittedly) i'm still invested and love the sport doesn't mean everything needs to be sunshine and rainbows through my eyes. I'm concerned where the game is heading their needs to be a philosophy back to a more attacking style and hopefully a return of key positional players. I like the way Melbourne and Brisbane play Carlton to an extend too they are more direct and daring but it is still played at a stagnate pace unless the game is on the line.

btw I still watch F1 too even through I find it boring as batshit these days.
 
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RJK Tiger

Premiership Player
Oct 29, 2020
3,630
8,746
AFL Club
Richmond
I think the rule changes have been the biggest cause
Haha …I remember that time

When what’s his name stripped off his shirt after kicking the set shot goal to get into the WC

And Tim Cahill was the most famous Australian sportsman for about 3 weeks


Meanwhile…my 22 year old footy fanatic son is flying to melbourne in two weeks from Perth to visit his grandfather and is slotting in 3 games at the G and marvel to watch AFL ..and none of the games are Essendon!

He just wants to watch elite footy live in the home of footy.

Also …he loves soccer ..EPL , champions league etc

But footy is his true love.

My job as a father and promoter of the greatest game is a success 👌


The Australian WC qualifcation & WC run shits all over any single season of AFL - it was awesome. Your basically pissing on it for no real apparent reason other than Australian soccer was unable to maintain that level of quality.

If Australia was winning Asian Cups and getting to the Quarter Finals of the WC all the time, soccer would be massive here. The only reason it declined was because they lacked the quality in their systems to sustain success.

There is a fair argument that Australian sport as a whole is in massive decline. AFL, NRL, A League, Cricket, NBL - are any of these leagues "killing it"?

I find cricket to be a husk of its former glory. I think the younger generation are just less interested in Sports overall in Australia.

USA do not have this decline as sports are huge in high school & College levels - but in Australia their is next to no "following" of these leagues except for individual players, draft prospects etc.
 

RJK Tiger

Premiership Player
Oct 29, 2020
3,630
8,746
AFL Club
Richmond
Do you not follow all the crime going on in QLD? It's not one example. It's one of many.


The biggest crime wave happening in QLD i know of is people driving while on their phone?

Talkin GIF
 

Bjo187

Premiership Player
Apr 30, 2020
3,069
3,978
AFL Club
Essendon
It's more what you see and hear now that you didn't then, eg constant score reviews, umpire microphones, getting frees for ducking the head, 50m penalties for nothing, very loud music and constant lighting changes, rubbish TV commentary etc, plus throw in patrons being told to barrack more quietly... there's no atmosphere, it's not an enjoyable day out like it used to be

This is a good point actually, everything is so controlled and pc. The commentary, the players (Look at the reaction to guys like ginnivan), the extreme over umpiring, anything slightly controversial or not pc gets blowtorched so there isn't anybody willing to step outside the bubble to show some character.

Overall though I'm one of the few that thinks the game is a lot better than 3 years ago due to 6, 6,6, the kick out rule and the stand rule (It's the way the idiots enforce it that annoys me but it def opens the game up). I do hate the dangerous tackle and dissent bullshit though and I think that's people's final straw, it's all just so 'woke' pretty much like the rest of society but I dunno why our favourite sport has to follow.
 

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Aug 18, 2006
38,708
48,563
Melbourne
AFL Club
Carlton
I probably watch a couple more games a week these days than I did the last decade or so.(maybe not full games but probably the Friday night game and some other parts of games if I'm doing nothing)

Game is more interesting than say 2015-20, more free flowing. Still not as good as the 90s but that was the time I was into footy the most as well - in my teenage years when footy was my weekends.

Sent from my CPH2005 using Tapatalk
 

Johnny Bananas

Premiership Player Hater
Sep 10, 2010
12,676
17,004
Next door
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
This is a good point actually, everything is so controlled and pc. The commentary, the players (Look at the reaction to guys like ginnivan), the extreme over umpiring, anything slightly controversial or not pc gets blowtorched so there isn't anybody willing to step outside the bubble to show some character.

Overall though I'm one of the few that thinks the game is a lot better than 3 years ago due to 6, 6,6, the kick out rule and the stand rule (It's the way the idiots enforce it that annoys me but it def opens the game up). I do hate the dangerous tackle and dissent bullshit though and I think that's people's final straw, it's all just so 'woke' pretty much like the rest of society but I dunno why our favourite sport has to follow.
It was a good effort trying to shoehorn political buzzwords like "PC" and "woke" in there, but come on, you can add more! Now try and insert "cancel culture" and "feminazi" too!
 

seasonedsainter

All Australian
Mar 20, 2022
879
2,538
AFL Club
St Kilda
It's acutely over-officiated both on and off the field. They tried very hard to fix something that wasn't broken and in the process, altered the actual game people loved. Tamed it, made it fit within the confines of the emergent corporate and political group-think of the last decade. The AFL hierarchy left their originality, independence and plums at the door. And the game is on the verge of becoming a hollowed out version of itself, propped up for the cameras and party tricks on for the kids - but missing the soul that it once undeniably had.
 

Herne Hill Hammer

Cancelled
10k Posts
Jun 22, 2008
24,580
21,272
AFL Club
Geelong
Basketball did explode here when jordan was dominating. Going to nbl games became common. The nbl finals would get massive crowds and live to air tv in prime time.

Night games between Melbourne Tigers and South East Melbourne Magic at Rod Laver Arena with the roof open under a summer night sky was about as good as it could get. People hanging off the rafters.

A few years later, they would be struggling to fill a netball stadium.
 
Nov 10, 2013
23,829
37,134
The Valley near the Alley
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Hell no
I watch less games now. But not because of rules and umpires. Because of the coverage. Specifically channel 7 commentary team and background crowd noise being so low.

Thankfully as a small non victorian team we rarely get channel 7 team.
But i see we are this Saturday night in darwin.
 

PJays

Club Legend
Suspended
Nov 2, 2020
1,659
1,924
AFL Club
St Kilda
Australia has culturally diversified over the years.

Globalisation and technology have amplified the competition.

You can turn on Kayo (or similar apps for individual sports- NBA League pass etc) and watch any sport anywhere, anytime, in high quality on your TV.

Within this context I think the AFL has remained a remarkable success story.
 
Sep 15, 2007
50,371
46,606
Where i need to be
AFL Club
Geelong
Night games between Melbourne Tigers and South East Melbourne Magic at Rod Laver Arena with the roof open under a summer night sky was about as good as it could get. People hanging off the rafters.

A few years later, they would be struggling to fill a netball stadium.
I was a north melbourne giants man myself. It was ruined when they merged south melbourne with the giants and reduced to only two melbourne sides. Early mid nineties it was huge.
 

Herne Hill Hammer

Cancelled
10k Posts
Jun 22, 2008
24,580
21,272
AFL Club
Geelong
I was a north melbourne giants man myself. It was ruined when they merged south melbourne with the giants and reduced to only two melbourne sides. Early mid nineties it was huge.

Was there ever a better name for a team than Nunawading Hang Ten Spectres?
 

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